The Megalomaniac Handbook
by mystica88
Summary: Rose is trapped in an alternate universe but somehow the Doctor is calling her. He's in trouble and she will stop at nothing to reach him. 10th Doctor, Rose, Martha, and Jack. Guest staring: Torchwood Cardiff team, Sarah Jane, and Doctor 4. Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Where we going, Doc?" Jack asked as he strolled into the TARDIS control room to see the Doctor at work over the controls.

"No idea. Got a distress call, but I can't seem to pinpoint the location," he answered as he continued to pull levers and push buttons.

Jack smiled at him. "You'd think after nine hundred years of operating this thing, you would be a bit better at it." He walked over to the controls and began to punch a few buttons of his own.

"I'll have you know that this is a highly sophisticated piece of technology that is now the last of its kind and I have had to rebuild using less than standard equipment countless times. It's not my fault that she's got a few kinks in her systems that I have to work through."

"Well, then it seems that she just likes me more than you because here it is," Jack said with a grin as he gestured to the screen in front of him.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing and looked over Jack's shoulder as he pulled his reading glasses on. He stared at the screen for a moment before frowning and said, "Right then, looks like we have a heading." And he moved away and began to change the coordinates.

Jack just smiled after him. He knew that the Doctor would never admit that he had been wrong and pressing the issue was only going to gain him either more silence or over his head logic in how Jack was really the one who was wrong and the Doctor had actually been right. Or maybe he would just get some comment on dumb luck.

Just then Martha walked in. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Doctor got a distress signal. We're tracking it down now," Jack explained simply.

Martha rolled her eyes. "Not again. Distress signals are never good for us you know?" she said to the Doctor.

"Well that's the point isn't it?" he said excitedly. "Someone is in trouble so of course we have to get into a bit of trouble ourselves to sort it out. That's the price of traveling with me," he said with a grin.

"Oh don't get me wrong. I'm all about helping people. But sometimes it seems we walk into a bit more than we can handle."

"Nonsense, we're all still here, still alive… obviously we're doing something right," the Doctor shrugged off.

Martha just shook her head as she leaned against the wall, waiting for the spinning of the TARDIS engines to come to a stop.

When they finally did, the Doctor walked over to the doors and placed his hands on the handle. "Well," he said as he turned around to face Jack and Martha keeping his hands on the handle behind his back. "Shall we take a look then?" he said as he threw the doors open behind him and spun around.

His readings had told him that they were underground, inside of an asteroid, and that there had been no one in the area where they had landed. So he was rather shocked to turn and face a row of laser guns aimed at him.

"Oh. Hello then," he said as he looked up at the man closest to him. "I must have gotten the wrong address then. Well, sorry to trouble you, we'll be on our way," he said as he started to back up to close the doors once again.

"I don't think so Doctor," a voice said from behind the first row of men.

"Oh, someone I know then? Who's there?"

"Fire," the voice said smoothly. Before any of them could react, a pulse of blue energy left one of the guns and struck the Doctor in the chest. He collapsed immediately, half in, half out of the TARDIS.

Jack and Martha had been making their way to the door the entire time and were just behind the Doctor when he collapsed.

Jack brought his gun up and began firing into the blockade in front of him. He was fast and had brought down several men and had made his way just outside the door, putting himself between Martha and the Doctor and the men firing at them.

Martha dropped down beside the Doctor and was trying to pull his unconscious body back into the TARDIS. But as Jack stepped out, another man snuck behind him and had grabbed a hold of the Doctor's arm and tried to pull him the rest of the way out.

Jack was too busy keeping the other men at bay that he didn't notice when Martha was stunned as well and both she and the Doctor we dragged away. When he glanced back to see if it was all right for him to head back into the TARDIS, he saw that both of his friends were no longer there. He assumed that they had both made it back in and he turned and ran back himself.

Right as he reached the door and looked in to see that the room was empty, a stunning blast hit him in the back. The last thing that he could remember was pulling the TARDIS doors closed. Above all else, he couldn't let someone get into the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose sat at her desk cataloging new alien items that had somehow turned up on Earth. It seemed that they were getting very high amounts of alien activity lately. Once again, she wondered what it was that she was doing here in London as the director of alien affairs rather than out there in the field, trying to discover the source of whatever was bringing this stuff here.

It had been nearly two years now since she had been stranded in this alternate universe. True, for the first time in her life she was part of a family. Her mom and dad were together once again and Mickey had become like an honorary brother to her. And now she even had a beautiful baby sister to fawn over. But none of that seemed to matter when compared to what she had lost.

She loved her new family very much, and knew that she would have missed out on so much if she had been able to stay with the Doctor. But still she couldn't help but wish that she hadn't been stuck here, away from him.

But now that she was separated from him for the rest of time, she couldn't just slip back into a normal family life. She needed to be doing something, something important. That was how she had gotten herself involved in Torchwood.

Ironic how it was that she wound up being employed by the same people who, in her universe, had caused her to be stranded where she was.

But Torchwood was not enough. She was way ahead of the others who worked there in knowledge of aliens and what they can do and what types of technology are out there, but they insisted that she stay at the desk, categorizing and cataloguing everything that they came across.

She felt that her knowledge was going to waste. She should be out there, finding this stuff and tracking down the reported rouge aliens that were popping up.

She sighed and looked up at the clock. It was time to leave and go back to her family. She loved them, she really did. But nothing seemed right anymore. It wasn't just that she was now in an entirely new universe; it was that she couldn't find her place in it all. She had spent so long running from adventure to adventure that this domestic life was just too bland for her now. Of course she never said any of this to her family, but she knew that they were aware of her feelings. She knew that it broke her mother's heart to have her loathing to stay there, but she couldn't help the way that she felt.

Rose gathered her coat and purse and stood up from her desk. Reaching down she closed her laptop and turned to leave her cubical.

Just as she reached the entrance of her space, a violent feeling suddenly over took her. She was suddenly filled with tremendous fear and pain radiated from the center of her chest and arced through her whole body. As she closed her eyes and grabbed a hold of the wall next to her, she could here a voice, screaming her name.

It was the Doctor's voice. But it wasn't the same gentle whisper that he had used to call her to say goodbye, it was a pain filled scream. She knew beyond doubt that right then he was in pain and needed help. Her Doctor was calling for help.

And then, just as suddenly as the feeling had over-took her, she was released from it. She swayed as she continued to cling to the wall, trying to recover from the shock.

"Rose?" a concerned voice asked next to her.

Rose opened her eyes and saw that it was Martha, her friend and boss at Torchwood.

"Rose, are you alright?" she asked again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rose said as she quickly took herself in hand. "Just skipped lunch today. Got up a bit too fast," she lied.

Martha frowned at her, "you shouldn't do this to yourself Rose. You know that you are allowed and even supposed to take a break from time to time," she admonished.

"Yeah, I know. I just lost track of time is all."

Martha eyed Rose for a moment, not sure if she really believed her friend's excuse, but she really didn't have much to go on. "Well tomorrow I'm going to come by when I leave for lunch and you are coming with me, got it?" she said firmly.

Rose forced a smile, "Yeah, it's a date."

"Now get home and have a bite before you pass out," Martha said as she gave Rose a pat on the shoulder and continued on to whatever she had been doing.

After Martha had passed, Rose took a deep breath before finally releasing her grip on the wall. As she walked towards the elevator, her mind raced through what had just happened.

She couldn't imagine what might have caused that or where it was coming from, but she was certain that the Doctor was calling to her. And the only reason that she could see for him to call her was if there was some way for her to cross over into his world again.

Maybe there was something that she should be doing or someplace that she needed to go. But she certainly didn't get any information from her vision or whatever had just happened.

She shuddered at the thought that maybe he was in so much pain he didn't even know that he was calling to her. For a brief second she was able to feel the agony and wondered if that could even be real. She couldn't imagine him in so much pain.

Her thoughts flew through her mind as she made her way home. She hardly even realized when she walked through the door that she had even left Torchwood. But there her mom was, asking how her day had went.

Rose just stared at her blankly for a moment. What was she going to tell her family? Of course they knew all about the Doctor, but would they really believe her? And if they did, what could they do?

Jackie paused at the stove where she had been making dinner and looked over to her silent daughter.

"Rose what is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."

She looked at her mom for a moment longer before replying, "I think I did."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Slowly the Doctor came back to consciousness. His eyes fluttered as his senses came back into check, revealing to him that he had a nasty headache. He tried to move his hand to his forehead but found that he couldn't. His eyes flew open as he looked where he was.

He glanced to his left hand and saw it extended out beside him with his wrist firmly clamped in a cold metal cuff. A quick glance to his right revealed the same. He couldn't look, but he could feel that his ankles were likely bound.

He found that he was very cold as he discovered that he had been stripped of his jacket and shirt as well as his socks and trainers. At least they had the decency to leave him his pants he thought. He was laid out on some metal table that was at a slight angle so he could see some of what was in front of him rather than just the ceiling. But all there was to look at was a metal door that seemingly was built right into a bare rock wall.

The room he was in was more of a cave than a room. The walls were carved right from the bedrock. There was just a single light that was right above his head so a very close examination of the room was out of the question.

As he moved his head from side to side, he realized that there was something attached to his forehead. Glancing once again to his left, he was able to follow a wire that went from his head, to a machine that was just to the left of his table.

Pondering the machine for a moment, he realized what it was that he was attached to.

"A Psycho recorder?" he asked aloud.

There was a soft chuckle from somewhere behind him. "That is correct Doctor. Very good."

The owner of the voice moved around to stand just to the right of the bound Doctor.

"What on Earth do you want me hooked up to one of those for?" he asked.

The man just smiled evilly down at him before saying, "My master was right, this will be quiet entertaining."

"Your master? And who might that be?"

"So many questions. And I have no answers to give you."

"You capture me and strap me down seemingly without reason and then you just hover over me without so much as a gloat of why or how you managed to capture me? You really need to brush up on your megalomaniac handbook."

Again the man chuckled softly. "Yes, this should be quiet entertaining," he said more to himself than anything. He then turned his back for a moment as he reached behind him to another table that was laid out.

"Tell me Doctor," he said with his back turned. "Why was it that you came here?"

"I received a distress call. Obviously someone else has been here and was not very pleased with your hospitality."

The man turned back with a slender metal rod in hand with a grin on his face. "My master was right; you just can not resist the call of someone in need. It was I who sent the distress call hoping that it would be you who responded."

"Well, why didn't you just call? You didn't need to go to such lengths to get a hold of me. I can always make time for an old friend… the friend of an old friend as it may be. Obviously your master knows me. But the question is, how do I know your master?"

"In time, you will know. But it is not for me to reveal his identity. He wishes that pleasure for himself."

"Then can I at least receive your name? After all, I am your guest here."

"I am Ka'ras," he said simply.

The Doctor waited for more but when he didn't receive it he asked, "Just Ka'ras? Not Ka'ras, the high and mighty? Ka'ras lord of whatever? Ka'ras the magnificent? Just Ka'ras? You really should take a look at that handbook."

"And you talk too much. I am afraid I am going to have to cut this conversation short. I really have quite a bit of work ahead of me."

"Oh, did I interrupt your plans to take over the universe? I'm sorry. If I'm such an inconvenience, I could just leave."

"Why Doctor, I would never dream of seeing you go. After all, you are the reason that I have so much work to do. You are my new project."

And with that he flipped a switch at the end of the rod that he was holding. A spark jumped from the end of the rod as the tip lit up and sizzled with blue electricity.

The Doctor eyed the device warily as Ka'ras went on to say, "You see Doctor, you have something that I want. And I'm afraid that this is going to be the only way of retrieving it."

"And what might that be?"

Again the evil grin. "Your screams." And then he plunged the sparking end of the rod into the Doctor's chest.

He could feel the energy arcing through his body, causing all of his muscles to tighten and spasm. A yell of pain was pull from his lips as his limbs began to strain against his restraints. Pain rippled through him and he could just make out the same evil grin plastered upon his torturer's face.

Ka'ras held the rod in place for almost a full minute before pulling it free. His smile broadened when he watched as the Doctor sagged in his restraints, gulping huge mouthfuls of breath as his limbs continued to twitch and spasm for a few moments more.

But Ka'ras grin faded for a moment when the Doctor quickly recovered and asked in his perfectly fine cocky way. "Is that any way to treat your guest?"

"Who said anything about you being my guest? You are my prisoner, and as such, this is the only thing that you shall know from now on," and he plunged the device into the Doctor's chest once again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack came to only to find himself in a cold cell. His back was against a hard rock wall with his hands at his sides in cold iron manacles. The manacles were connected to a chain that was attached to the wall slightly above his head. In front of him was a view of steel bars with a door that was held shut by what appeared to be a rather primitive looking padlock. To his left was another solid rock wall but to his right were more bars.

On the other side of the bars he could make out the form of Martha, similarly caged and chained to the wall behind her. From the look of it, she hadn't yet come around.

"Martha," Jack called to her.

She moved her head a bit, but not much else.

"Martha!" he called again, a little louder.

This time she shook her head and let out a slight moan as she came to once again. Jack watched as she tried to move one of her arms and nearly had a panic attack when she couldn't move it as far as she wanted to. Apparently she wasn't quiet with it yet.

"Martha, calm down." He called to her.

Her eyes fluttered open the rest of the way as she stopped trying to pull her arm from the restraint. She turned her head and looked at Jack.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The usual," he said as he began to turn his attention to his current situations and how he might be able to pull off an escape.

"We followed a distress signal and got ourselves into distress. They were stun weapons, knocked us out and dragged us in here it would seem," Jack said.

"Where's the Doctor?" Martha asked.

"No idea. But knowing him, he's probably neck deep into trouble and trying to find a way out of it."

"Well, he is very good at getting into trouble. But at least he's even better at getting out of it."

"Yup, but it probably wouldn't hurt for us to get ourselves out and see what we can do." Jack said as he pulled against the restraint on his right arm.

"No arguing there. But how do you propose we do that?" she asked.

"Not sure yet. But I'll think of something."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was only a few moments later that Rose found herself surrounded by her family once again, explaining to them what she had experienced back at Torchwood earlier that day.

"It was like he was calling to me. And I could feel the pain he was in."

"But Rose honey, why would he call you if you can't get to him?" he mother said gently.

"I don't know. But I'm sure it means that there is a way. There must be!"

"Rose, you don't know that," Mickey said.

"Why else call me?"

"Like you said, he's in pain. Maybe he doesn't even realize that he called for help." Mickey argued.

"Then I have to go to him. He's in trouble. He would come for me."

"But he can't… you can't," her dad said. "You know that the bridge between our worlds was closed. You can't go to him and he can't come here," Pete said with finality.

Rose was nearly in tears by now. "But there must be a way," She practically whispered.

Her mom moved to her side and threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her daughter closer.

"Shh. Rose, I know how much you love him, but you have got to let him go. It's been nearly two years."

"Two years of feeling as if I have died. I miss it mum. I miss the danger, the excitement… but mostly I miss him."

There was relative silence for a while longer as Rose softly cried into her mother's shoulder while the men watched on helplessly. They hurt to see her in such pain, but there was nothing that they could do for her.

Suddenly Rose gasped and stiffened in her mother's arms.

"Rose!" Jackie called as she pulled away enough to look at her daughter. Rose's eyes were glazed over as a look of pain and terror crossed her face.

Pete was quickly at her side as well, taking a hold of her shoulders and gently shaking her. "Rose, what's wrong? What's happening?"

She didn't respond at first and then she let out a soft scream as her eyes slammed shut and her hands flew up over her ears as if she was trying to block out a loud noise.

"Rose!" Pete and Jackie called together as Pete shook her again.

They both felt as Rose began to relax and slowly brought down her arms. She continued to keep her head bowed and didn't look at them.

"Rose what happened?" her mom demanded.

They heard as Rose sniffed and then looked up at them. Fresh tears were in her eyes as she tried to find the words to say.

"It… it was him. So much pain," she whispered as tears continued to stream down her face.

Jackie looked to Pete worriedly as she pulled Rose to herself once again. She wordlessly pleaded with her husband to do something for her, to stop Rose from feeling that pain. But Pete was just as helpless.

He looked to Mickey and they both rose and left the room together, leaving Rose in her mother's arms, crying for her lost love and the pain that he was sharing with her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What can we do?" Mickey asked Pete as they exited the room. "Rose is right, the Doctor wouldn't call her if there wasn't a way for her to get to him."

"But he said so himself, she could never cross over again."

"Maybe something changed."

Pete thought for a moment. "Well the best place to find out about rifts in time and space would be at Torchwood. After all… it was their twin in the other world that made the last bridge."

"Do you think that our devices might work again if we can find another rift?" Mickey asked.

"It's possible."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Mickey said as he prepared to leave.

"No, you stay here," Pete said as he grabbed his coat. "I know a lot of the higher ups over there, not to mention quite a few owe me favors. I'll find out if they know anything, but until then, don't tell Rose. We don't want to get her hopes up."

"No, I suppose not," Mickey said sadly as he glanced back at Rose who was still buried in her mother's arms.

"Hurry back. I hope she doesn't have to go through that again."

"Me too," Pete said and he walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"How's the escape plan coming?" Martha asked Jack.

"Still working on it," he said. "It seems that we may have gotten captured by some halfway competent bad guys. They didn't leave me a single thing to work with. And trust me, that makes me feel somewhat violated. And there isn't much to work with in our cells. And did you notice that the guard who brought our meal was deaf and probably half blind? No playing on the underling sympathy. I'm not sure how we're going to get out of this one."

"That doesn't sound like my overly cocky and confident Captain Jack. What gives?"

"Reality."

Martha was silent for a while after that. "Well, there is still the Doctor," she said.

"Yeah, he has a tendency to pop up when least expected."

They sat in silence for a while longer. "Jack, what if we can't get out?" Martha asked quietly. "I mean, what do you think they want us for?"

Jack sighed before answering. "Honestly, I don't know. And that's what worries me the most."

Again they allowed the silence to cover them. Jack continued to work on pulling against the arm restraint that he now knew was not something he was going to be able to work out of, but it was something to do. Martha was just about settled into a light doze.

Suddenly the silence was shattered by the sound of an agonized scream. Martha jerked back to full awareness as she and Jack looked sharply at each other. The scream was short, but had spoke volumes for them.

"Was that?..." Martha began.

"Sounds like we can't expect much help from the Doctor," Jack said as he began pulling against his chains once again.

"Jack, what do we do?" Martha asked getting panicked.

"We get out," he said as he jerked his arm violently side to side.

"What are you doing?"

"I think that if I jar this chain enough, it might come loose from the rock," he said.

"Or you'll break your arm," Martha cried.

"Better a broken arm then hearing that again. Or worse, being the next one to make that sound."

Martha watched in wonder as Jack continued to work at his restraint. She knew that even if his idea were to succeed, it was going to a long time to work that chain free. They were still looking at a while in those cells, but at least there was some type of plan now. Even if it was one out of desperation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor wasn't sure how long it was that he had been left alone in the dark cold room, still clamped down on the steel table. But it felt as if it had only been a moment since his torturer had left without a word before he heard the door open once again.

A second later, Ka'ras stepped into view once again.

"What do you want?" the Doctor asked. "You bring me here and torture me and don't ask a single question. You're obviously not very good at this whole torture thing. I can't give you anything if you don't tell me what you want."

The Doctor watched as a wicked grin crossed Ka'ras' face. The man didn't say a word but continued on his way to the tray that was on the Doctor's right.

"Ka'ras, what game are you playing?" the Doctor asked.

Ka'ras still didn't answer as he lifted a syringe and a small vial of clear liquid from the table. He devoted all of his attention to filling the syringe as he continued to ignore the Doctor's questions.

"What? Not even going to gloat about what you're about to do to me? No blood curdling descriptions of the pain you're going to inflict? You really should read that handbook you know."

Ka'ras simply ignored everything that was said to him as if the Doctor wasn't even in the room. As soon as he was satisfied with the syringe, he sat the now empty vial back on the table and turned once again to face the Doctor. He took the two steps that it was to reach the Doctor and methodically wrapped a bit of tubing around the Doctor's right arm and tied it off as a tunicate. Then he depressed the plunger just enough for a small amount of the liquid to squirt out the top. Finally, without any preamble, he injected the needle in the Doctor's arm and emptied the contents of his syringe into it.

Quickly he untied the tunicate and placed both it and the used syringe on the tray behind him and walked out, never once saying a word.

The Doctor lay there, wondering what he had just been injected with. Slowly a burning sensation began to start at the injection part of his arm and it was rapidly spreading up his arm and into his chest. It was only moments later that his entire body began to feel as if it was on fire. Every nerve in his body pulsed with pain as whatever that drug was flushed through his system.

Once again he began to squirm with the pain and was unable to suppress moans and small screams of agony. His entire body was telling his brain that he was being burned alive, but with none of the body destroying effects. It was purely a sensational effect. A sensational effect of pure agony.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

How long it took for the drug to ware off, he couldn't say. But it left him completely drained and covered in a cold sweat. Blood trickled down from where his wrists and ankles had rubbed in his restraints when he was unable to control his muscles from reacting to the pain.

He lay there, shivering from the absence of the heat that his body had perceived, as the sweat dried from his half naked body in the cool room, against the cold steel table. All thought had been driven from his mind while the drug had full sway over him, but now his thoughts were racing. He couldn't fathom why this was happening. Normally when he was captured and tortured, there were questions behind it, or at least a demand. But this Ka'ras remained silent. He wasn't even present during this last bout of pain. What could possibly be the benefit of doing all of this?

And then there was the question on what had happened to Jack and Martha. Were they going through something like this as well? Were they even alive? What help would he be able to count on from them if any? What help was he going to be to them?

These questions and possible plans of action circled through his head as he tried to regain some of the strength that had just been sapped from him. Somewhere in the middle of his thoughts, he drifted into a very uneasy sleep.

As he slept, he didn't notice when Ka'ras returned for a moment to collect the data disk from the Psycho Recorder. As he removed the disk, he quickly inserted another before turning and leaving once again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside Ka'ras met up with his master. "Here is the first two sessions' recordings master," he said as he handed the disks over.

"Very good. I will make sure that they are put to use. You continue to do what you are best at and bring me the recordings."

"Master, why is it that you do not wish to be a part of the torture? I was under the impression that you were not very fond of this Time Lord."

The man grinned. "No I am not. But it would do no good to reveal myself to him yet. Besides, while sifting through for the pieces that I wish to use on the disk, it will be as if I am in the room while it is happening anyway."

"And what of his companions? Shall I dispose of them?"

"No, not yet. They may still be useful once we have gotten what we are after." He wickedly grinned once again. "It can be the final blow to the Time Lord to watch his friends die before his eyes before I rid myself of him, finally."  
"As you wish, master," Ka'ras answered with a bow.

"Just remember Ka'ras, both the Doctor and his companions are very sly. They will attempt whatever means possible to escape. Make sure that you take every possible action to see that this does not happen."

"I understand."

"Good, now get back to work. And don't forget to be on guard. We wouldn't want our prize to slip through our fingers now, would we?"

"No, master."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Jack, you're bleeding. Stop." Martha called to Jack.

He ignored her and continued to pull at his right arm restraint. His face was hidden in a mask from the pain that every pull caused him, but he persisted to press through it.

"Jack! Even if you do pull that thing from the rock, it's going to take time. At least give it a rest."

"Why? It's not like I'm going to bleed to death," he said through gritted teeth.

"But you will get tired and then you won't be able to work it anymore. Please, just rest for a moment."

Jack stopped and turned his face to Martha. "And what if while I'm resting they come back and take you? Or me? Or start in on the Doctor again?"

Martha looked at him for a long silent moment before gently saying, "I'm worried about him to. But he has been able to take care of himself before. And we won't be any help to him if we get out and are too tired to rescue him. We just have to be patient."

Jack stared at her before finally sighing and leaning wearily into the wall closing his eyes as he willed his racing heart and ragged nerves to calm down. "You know, sometimes you remind me of one of my team at Torchwood," he said to the ceiling, keeping his eyes closed.

"Really?"

Jack smiled, "Yeah, Gwen. She really knew how to get under my skin but she was also great at talking me down."

Martha smiled as she listened to him talk. "You miss them, don't you?" she said more of a statement than a question.

"At times. We were all very close. At least as close as I let them. But Gwen… well she knew a bit more about who I was than everyone else. Not all of it, but enough to feel closer to her than I had to anyone in a long time."

"Not since…?" she prompted.

"Not since Rose and the Doctor left me," he said with the slightest hurt creeping into his voice.

"I thought that the Doctor said they believed you were dead?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, they did. And I was. But it still hurt to seem them disappear in the TARDIS and leave me behind on that desolate station."

They were silent for a while longer.

"But now Rose is the one that was left behind," He said with a sigh as he sat up once again and opened his eyes.

"And again, it wasn't on purpose," Martha reminded him.

"But it seems that there should have been some answer, some why for the Doctor to get to her."

"Don't you think that if there was, he would have done it by now?"

"Yeah, but still…"

"It just doesn't feel right, does it? Knowing that your friend is out there somewhere and you can't get to her."

"Yeah, it's as if we haven't done enough. As if we failed her."

"But you haven't. And we're not going to fail the Doctor either. We just have to be patient."

Jack turned and flashed her an ironic smile. "Patience has never been one of my strong suites."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on Steve, you know you owe me one," Pete begged as he followed after the very busy Torchwood official, Steve O'Laren.

"Pete, you know I can't tell you anything. It's classified," Steve replied for what he felt was the hundredth time.

"So there is something then? Something that could be a rift in time and space?"

"Pete, I'm warning you. Drop it."

"I can't!" Pete said firmly as he stepped in front of Steve, blocking his path. "Rose needs to get back to her world. I'm her father and I have to help her anyway that I can."

They had a mini stare down before Pete decided that he had to pull his trump card. "Besides. You and your family wouldn't even be alive now if it wasn't for me and Rose. Or at least, you wouldn't be human anymore."

Steve flinched at the mention of the Cybermen invasion. Obviously the subject brought back bad memories.

Pete watched as his friend caved in front of him. Quickly Steve looked around to see if any one was watching them. Satisfied, he took Pete by the arm and propelled him to a corner of the room, away from all of the other desks.

"Alight. But you didn't hear a word of this from me."

"Of course," Pete sighed.

"There is something. We're not sure yet what it is, but it definitely is connected to something outside of our little universe here."

Steve paused. "Go on," Pete prompted.

"Right, about a year ago, strange things started popping up in Cardiff."

"Cardiff? What kind of strange things?"

"Mostly alien technology but occasionally there are creatures that turn up. Alien creatures that are hideous killing things. We call them weevils."

"What are you doing about it?"

"We have stationed a second Torchwood there. They work on collecting all of the alien technology for our possible use and rounding up the weevils that come through."

Pete thought for a moment. This could be useful. It just might be possible if he got her close enough, Rose could use the device that she had used to get here in the first place to cross back through this Cardiff rift into her world again.

"Alright, thanks Steve."  
"Sure. Remember, this conversation never took place," he mumbled as he was about to walk away.

"One more thing," Pete said. "Can you get Rose transferred to that unit?"

Steve shook his head. "I'm not in charge of that."

"Then can you tell me who is?"

"That would be her boss, Martha," Steve said as he finally walked away, finding the escape he had been looking for since Pete had showed up.

Pete stood in the corner for a moment as he smiled slightly. Martha was not only Rose's boss, but her friend too.

Martha leaned over her desk with fire in her eyes as she said in a harsh, almost deadly, whisper. "I don't know how the hell you know about Torchwood Cardiff, but you can bloody well forget about it."

"Martha please, Rose needs to get back to her world."

Martha snorted. "Why? What's wrong with this place? She's got a great job, a family, friends who care about her, what could she possibly need to get back there for?"

"It's the Doctor," Pete said as if this explained everything.

Martha slowly sank back into her chair. Apparently, it did.

How many times had Martha listened at lunch to Rose go on about her travels with the Doctor? How many times had she been able to read between the lines of how much her friend missed him, and loved him?

"What happened?" she asked.

"We're not sure. All we know is Rose is getting some kind of physic call for help from him."

"So you started poking around to see if we knew of any possible bridge between our world and his?" she said rather sharply.

"Wouldn't you? You know how much she loves him and how much she is hurt knowing that he is hurting, wouldn't you do anything to help her?"

Martha sighed, "I see your point." She thought for a moment before pulling out a paper from her stacks on her desk. "Alright, first thing tomorrow, I'll have her transferred to the Cardiff Torchwood as their new consultant. I should have sent her there when we first started the place, but I was selfish. I really like having her working for me."

"And now there might be a chance that she won't come back at all," Pete said gently, more to himself than anything.

Martha sighed again as she chose to answer him anyway, "I know, and that is the hardest part. But she doesn't belong here and we both know it. We have known it all along but it was alright then because she couldn't leave anyway."

"Did you think before that she might have thought of using the rift to cross if she had known about it?" Pete asked.

"Of course I did. Why do you think I tried to make sure that she never found out?"

That night, Rose woke, drenched in sweat with the Doctor's pain filled voice ringing in her head, calling her name. Only something was different this time. She couldn't feel the pain as well. When the scream ended, she sat there in bed, hugging her knees to her chest as she tried to calm herself once again.

But it seemed as if something from this episode lingered in her mind. It felt as if she could almost touch it. She closed her eyes, and pictured herself reaching out to touch that part of her that wasn't really a part of her. As she did, foreign information flooded her mind. She didn't understand it. It was a bunch of numbers but she just knew that it was coordinates.

The Doctor just told her where he was.

Now if only he could tell her how to get there.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Absolutely not!" Jackie bellowed at Pete. "I can't believe you would go and do something like that! She's your daughter! Do you want her to leave us forever?"

"Jackie, these last two years have been the happiest of my life. I have gotten to know a daughter that I should have had and a wife that I should have loved more. And now I have another daughter to love and cherish. Of course I don't want Rose to leave us, but do you think that she will ever be happy here knowing what she now knows?"

Jackie glared at Pete. She was steaming that he would go behind her back and seek out some way for Rose to leave them. She had fought so hard with him to go back for her when the Doctor was sealing the void. And now she was going to have to fight with him to keep her here.

"Pete, I will not lose Rose again to that man!" She delivered to him with a deadly whisper.

Backing up a step, Pete put his hands up to ward of the angry mother as he continued to plead his case. "Jackie, I did this for her own good. You saw how much this is hurting her. I couldn't stand it. I have come to love Rose as my daughter, you know that. But there comes a time when parents have to let their children go."

"I did once. I let her go off with him once and it nearly got her killed… on several occasions! And now you want to let her return to that life again!?"

"It's the only way that she will be happy. Don't you want your daughter to live a short happy life rather than a drawn out miserable one? She's positively pining and now she knows that the Doctor is in trouble and needs her help. What do you think that will do to her? She needs to go. Has to!"

Jackie couldn't take it anymore; she collapsed in the kitchen chair and began to sob. Pete came up behind her and gently placed his hands on her shaking shoulders.

"Jackie, I know how much this hurts you, hurts all of us, but we have to let her go."

"I know," Jackie sobbed into her hands. "I always knew that she would leave us again. I just hoped that she wouldn't."

Pete kneeled on the floor in front of his wife and held her while she cried for her daughter. Before long, tears were pouring down his eyes as well, but his resolve didn't waver in the slightest. He knew that he was doing the best for his daughter, even if it meant loosing her forever.

"When are you going to tell her?" Jackie finally asked.

"In the morning. She'll leave for Cardiff then and with any luck, will be back in her world by tomorrow."

"It's too fast Pete. It's like when she first disappeared all over again."

"I know Jackie, but the faster she reaches him, the better."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning everyone was once again gathered in the family room. "You're serious?" Rose said, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Yes, you're to go to Cardiff today and meet with the team there. None of them know about what you're going to try and do, but you'll know if it will work once you get close enough to the rift," Pete said as he handed her the device that they used to cross between universes. "Once the device senses an opening, it will activate. The light will come back on and all you have to do then is press the button."

Rose glanced around the room. Not sure of what to say. She couldn't help but feel excited and hopeful for what felt like the first time in two years. But then she saw how sad everyone else looked. Her dad, Mickey, but most of all, her mom.

"Mum.." she started. But Jackie hushed her and just pulled her into a crushing hug.

"Oh dear. I am really going to miss you," she said through her tears.

"That goes for all of us," Mickey said as he joined the mother daughter hug quickly followed by her dad.

Rose began to cry. This may be the last time that she saw her family. She hated these final goodbyes. The last one on the shore of Bad Wolf Bay nearly crushed her. Now she was leaving her new family and returning to her world and her Doctor.

"I'll try to come back, I promise," she heard herself saying, knowing that it was going to be a long shot to even be able to leave this world, let alone be able to come back.

"We know you will Rose," Pete said. "But if you don't, you will know that we love you and we know that you are going to be much happier than you are here. And that is all that really matters."

Rose bit her lip as she tried to keep from crying again. Finally, she pulled out of the embraces and reached down to pick up the bag that her mother had packed for her. She walked to the door and opened it before pausing.

Slowly she turned around and faced her family once again. Light from the perfect English morning was streaming in behind her in the door as she took in the possible last sight of her loved ones. They too were looking at the beautiful picture that she made against the doorframe and burning it into their memories. It was the first time in two years that they were able to see true life in her.

"Two years ago, it felt as if I had died," she said, echoing their thoughts. "Now it feels as if I am both dying and being reborn at once."

Jackie, who had been holding on to Pete, broke hold and walked up to her daughter. She gently placed a hand on her cheek and said. "Rose, I want to you live. Go out there and find him and live… Live your life."

They locked eyes for a moment before Rose finally nodded once and Jackie kissed the top of her forehead. Then, without glancing back, Rose turned and walked out the door to the waiting cab at the end of the driveway.

"Is that it then? We won't ever know if she made it or if she found him?" Mickey said to Pete and Jackie as Rose got into the car.

"She will. I know she will," Jackie said.

"She's too stubborn not to," Pete smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Owen and Suzie were arguing, again. "We don't need another person. Four of us are enough!" Owen said.

"From what I hear, this girl knows a lot about this stuff first hand. We could use someone like her here!" Suzie countered.

"The least they could have done was given us more of a warning," Toshiko said as she walked into the office. "A call that we're getting a new member of our team a few hours before she shows up is kind of rude."

"Exactly! What is London trying to pull? I bet they are sending her over to keep a closer eye on us. They probably think that we haven't been telling them everything or sending everything over." Owen continued.

Just then they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. They all turned and saw Ianto standing in the doorway with a young blond girl behind him. "Ah, I brought Rose Tyler as soon as she got here like you asked," he said to Suzie.

"Thank you Ianto," Suzie said. "Rose, come in," she called to Rose over Ianto's shoulder. Ianto moved out of the way and left the room all together.

"I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble," Rose said, not sounding the least bit sorry.

Owen glared at this new girl. She seemed too young to have as much knowledge as London claimed.

"It's alright Rose. We're just a very close-knit group here. It was pretty sudden getting you is all."

"I know. But I probably won't be here very long. I have… another place I need to be. So you won't have to worry too much about it."

Everyone exchanged glances. "You mean this is temporary," Toshiko asked.

"I certainly hope so," Rose said without elaborating.

They all stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Suzie said. "Well, let's get the introductions out of the way. I'm Suzie Costello, the head of Torchwood Cardiff. The one still glaring is Owen Harper and this is Toshiko Sato. I believe that you met Ianto on your way in."

"Yes."

"Alright then. Owen, if you could pull your head out of your ass for a moment, could you show our new member around our place?"

Owen walked briskly by Rose and said, "Come on," as he passed her.

Rose glanced at Suzie who shrugged her shoulders and nodded at her before she followed after Owen. All the time she fingered the device in her pocket that she longed to pullout and examine. But she needed to wait until she was alone.

Owen quickly guided her about the place, offering little comment on what stuff was besides one to two words of the different areas. He ended with bringing her down to the confinement rooms where several Weevils were being held.

"What are they?" Rose asked as she caught sight of one.

"No idea. Aliens, the best we figure."

Rose turned and looked at Owen who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. It reminded her of how the ninth Doctor would stand when he was pretending not to care.

That thought only made her reach for her pocket once again. She had to will herself not to pull the thing out in front of Owen.

"Well, that's it for the tour. I'm going back up," he said as he pushed off from the wall and headed for the door.

"Do you mind if I stay here a few. I… I'd like to see if I could communicate with one of them."

"Suite yourself. But you won't be able to. They seem to be about as bright as a crocodile," Owen said as he walked through the door, leaving her standing there alone.

She waited a second to make sure that he wasn't coming back before she pulled the device slowly from her pocket. She avoided looking at it until she had it right in front of her face.

Steeling herself, she looked at where the light should be on. It was.

She nearly dropped it in her excitement. Quickly she threw it around her neck. Pausing for a moment, she realized that this was it. She wasn't even sure if she was going to be transported back to where she needed to be or not, but she was leaving this place.

She took a deep breath and then pressed the large yellow button. There was a flash and a moment of disorientation. She opened her eyes and looked around. It looked as if she hadn't gone anywhere. She was still standing in a hallway of plexy-glass cages with the hideous Aliens trapped inside.

Rose wondered if anything really had happened. Was it possible that her universe had a Torchwood Cardiff too? She hoped so, but as it was, her spirits began to fall. It looked like she went nowhere really fast.

Sighing and trying not to be crushed by the feeling of loss, she walked to the door and left. Hoping that she might find something that would tell her she had switched universes.

As she walked out once again into the main room, everything looked pretty much the same. Though there was a strange looking hand in a jar of liquid that she couldn't remember seeing before.

Glancing around, there seemed to be no one there anymore. They must have all left her behind as they went out to track down some new alien tech that showed up or capture another Weevil.

Just then, the door opened and a laughing Owen and Toshiko came walking through with Owen carrying a pizza delivery box. As the two caught sight of Rose, they both froze for an instant before Owen shoved the box into Toshiko's hands and drew a gun, pointing it at Rose.

"Who the hell are you and how'd you get in here?" he demanded.

Rose raised her hand reflexively and said, "That's not funny Owen. It's me, Rose."

"How do you know my name?" he said.

Suddenly Rose realized that she really must have switched universes. This Owen and Toshiko had no idea who she was.

"It worked," she whispered to herself as she began to lower her hands.

"Hey, keep em up!" Owen said as he moved down the steps towards her. Toshiko sat the pizza down and began to work her way to her station to take some readings.

"What worked? Who are you?" Owen asked again.

"I'm Rose Tyler. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I just came here from an alternate universe. I was a member of Torchwood Cardiff in my world and I used this," she motioned to the device that still hung around her neck, "to cross over into your world."

Owen didn't look like he believed her one bit. It seemed that the Owen of this world was just as stubborn as the Owen in the other.

Just then, there were voices coming from the door once again as Ianto and another woman walked through.

Rose looked up at this new person as the two froze when they caught sight of her. There was a glimmer of recognition on Rose's part for this woman, but something didn't seem right about her. As she stared, trying to figure out where she had seen this woman before, Owen said.

"Gwen, Ianto. We came in to find this girl just standing here. Says she's from another universe," he said with a scoff.

"Gwen? Gwyneth?!" Rose suddenly was hit with the memory of the young maid how had worked at the mortuary in 1869 in Cardiff. Gwyneth had died sealing a rift that the Gelth were pouring through to take over the world.

"That's my name, though I haven't gone by Gwyneth since I was a little girl," she said. "And who are you?"

"It's me, Rose Tyler!" Rose said, trying to think how it could be that someone who had died in 1869 could be here in Torchwood in 2008.

"Who?"

"Gwyneth, how did you get here? Last I saw you was in 1869. How are you here?"

"1869? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rose could see that she really didn't. Maybe it was just a coincidence that this woman shared a likeness and name with another that she had met. Maybe this was Gwyneth's great great grand daughter or something. Either way, Rose didn't have time for any of this.

"Never mind. Look, my name is Rose Tyler. I worked for Torchwood London in an alternate universe and they sent me to my Torchwood Cardiff. I used this thing to get me from my universe to this one. I am originally from this one, but I got trapped in the other one during the battle at Canary Warf when the Doctor and I opened the void and pulled all of the Daleks and Cybermen inside," she quickly explained, hoping that she just put in enough details to convince them she was for real.

"The Doctor?" Gwen asked as Owen began to lower his gun. "Jack's Doctor?" she said as she came down to stand beside Rose.

Rose wasn't sure what Gwen was talking about. "Jack who?" she asked.

"Jack Harkness. He was our team leader up until a year ago when he left with the Doctor. He just disappeared one day but turned up a little while later and explained at least some of it to us," Gwen explained.

"Captain Jack! He's alive!" Rose exclaimed.

"Can't seem to die," Gwen answered.

Rose was completely caught off guard. "We used to travel with him, the Doctor and I! But I thought he was dead!"

Sadly Gwen shook her head. "When I first met him I thought I had watched him die. But then he came back. I've seen it several times now. He can't die."

"That's why he was looking for the Doctor but the Doctor found him first," Ianto said.

Rose took a second to process all of the information before she said, "If Jack is with the Doctor, then he is probably in trouble as well."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"The reason I had to cross over was because the Doctor has been calling me. He's in trouble and pain and I have to find him." She began to get agitated.

"What do you mean, calling you?" Owen asked.

"He…" Rose started. But as if on cue, she was suddenly taken over one again. She felt as if she would go deaf with his screams. She placed her hands over her ears reflexively, but of course that couldn't deaden the sound that echoed in her mind. She could feel Gwen grab a hold of her but she was too enthralled by the sounds in her head to hear what she was saying. "Rose! Help Me!" the Doctor's voice rang inside of her.

And as suddenly as it had come on, it was gone.

"Rose, what happened?" Gwen asked, full of concern as Rose sagged in her arms.

As she steadied herself again, Rose said, "That's what I was about to explain. It's the Doctor. He's in pain and somehow he is calling to me with his mind. Sometimes I can even feel the pain he is in and it is horrible," she explained.

The Torchwood crew all looked to each other thinking the same thing. If the Doctor was in pain, what about Jack?

"Do you know where they are?" Gwen asked.

"Yes, but it's not on this planet. You wouldn't have a spaceship lying around would you?" she said with a worried looked.

"Afraid not," Gwen answered.

"Any ideas of how to get to them?" Owen asked.

Rose thought for a moment. "I did have one, but it is a long shot and probably will be breaking all of the rules of time,"

"Well, let's hear it then," Gwen said.

Rose smiled. "I need your help finding Sarah Jane Smith."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It wasn't very long before Rose met with Sarah back in London and explained the whole thing to her. Sarah had even brought K-9 with her as they talked.

"So how do you plan on getting to him?" Sarah asked.

"That's why I needed to find you. You've traveled with him. You went back and forth through time. If you can remember a time that you might have been here, in this time, I might be able to contact your Doctor and get him to bring me to my Doctor."

"But that can't be legal!"

"It's the only way Sarah. I have to get to him, you know that. And he is the only one I know who could be in this time and have a ship that will get me where I need to be."

Sarah looked uneasy. Rose could tell that she didn't like the idea of this plan very much.

Rose pressed, "Sarah, I need you to think really hard. Was there anytime while you were traveling with the Doctor that you came into the future around our current time?"

"It was all so long ago. I'm just not sure."

"Sarah, he needs me. And he needs you too. You are the only one I know of that I can contact who has traveled with him. And this is the only thing that I can think of to get to him."

"But even if you could find a younger him, wouldn't that be breaking about a million time rules?"

"I don't care! He is in pain and trouble, and he is calling to me for help! Do you think that he would do any less? How many rules did you see him break while you were with him?"

"Rose is right, mistress," K-9 put in.

"You be quiet," Sarah said to the mechanical pup.

"Sarah, please. Just think; where did you go with him?"

Sarah sat down on the bench in and thought. She knew Rose was right. She just hated that this young thing was who the Doctor had called to for help instead of her. But she was still right. They both needed to work together to save him.

"I'm pretty sure that there was nothing of use while I traveled with Three but Four and I went so many different times and places that it sometimes makes my head hurt thinking about it all."

Rose sat next to her on the bench and waited for Sarah to think through it. It was a long shot at best that she might be able to track down the Doctor from a past life within her own time. But he was a Time Lord after all and he traveled all over time. And who would be better to help save the Doctor than the Doctor himself?

"I remember there was one time when I was curious about what the new millennium would be like," she said almost to herself.

"Do you remember the date?" Rose pressed.

Sarah sat and thought long and hard. "With the Doctor it had always been hard to pinpoint an exact date. Mostly because he was never entirely sure himself. He would set the controls to the general era that he was after and the TARDIS would take over from there."

"You have to remember," Rose pressed. "What year was it?"

Sarah scrunched her face up as she concentrated on that time.

"Perhaps there was something world related that was happening that you remember, mistress," K-9 stated.

Sarah looked at her dog for a moment before her face brightened. "Yes! I remember watching a news report from the street! It was the 2008 Olympics and Britain had shocked the world by taking… oh I don't remember the number of medals, but it was a lot."

"The Olympics had just ended?" Rose said excitedly as she stood up from the bench. "The 2008 Olympics?"

"Yes. And those start…"

"Tomorrow!"

Rose spun around and hugged Sarah who returned the hug with like enthusiasm. As they parted, Rose asked, "Now, where were you when you saw this report?"

"London. In fact, we weren't all that far from where Torchwood is now I think," she said.

"Great! You can show me where you were and bring me to him, since I have no idea what he looked like then, and we can get him to help us… and himself."

Sarah looked at Rose for a moment before she said. "I can take you there and show him to you, but I can't get involved."

"Why not?!" Rose asked. "I could use your help."

"Rose, you won't be approaching just him, but me as well. My younger self will be with him. You know that I can't march up to myself and shake hands. I can't be anywhere near there when you meet him."

Rose stared at Sarah for a moment as she pondered what it was that Sarah was saying and knew that the woman was absolutely correct.

"You're right. I remember what happened when I touched my younger self; it nearly got us all killed. But what to do until then? I need to get to him as fast as possible. And the Olympics last for weeks."

"You'll just have to wait. I'm sure that this is going to be your best and only shot."

"Yeah, the next time to find him might not be until the 2012 Olympics, and I'm sure he doesn't have that long."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Still no sign?" The hooded figure asked Ka'ras as the minion delivered another disk to him.

"No Master. Maybe we were wrong. The message might not be enough," Ka'ras said.

"No, it will be fine. It just may take time. Make sure that while we're waiting you don't kill him. I want that pleasure for myself."

"Does he not have several more regenerations? It would not be a total loss if I slipped once would it?"

"Not completely, but I would prefer to be able to kill him as many times as I can. I want to relish the experience and drag it out for both of us."

"I understand, Master. I will make sure that I do not kill him."

"Good."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"How's it coming?" Martha asked.

"Slowly, but I think that it is loosening. I can feel it begin to give now," Jack answered as he leaned back into the wall to rest once again.

"How long do you think they are planning on keeping us here like this?" she asked.

"If I knew what they wanted I could guess. But I still have no clue. They seem to want to keep us alive, but beyond that, it's like we aren't even here."

"I just hope that the Doctor is alright,"

"So do I," Jack said as he glanced at his bloodied wrist once again. It hurt, but nowhere near as much as the people that had them were going to hurt when he got out of here.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was an agonizing couple of weeks. Rose was contacted by the Doctor at least twice a day now. Sometime with the pain, sometimes just the screams. She could begin to sense him weakening and breaking. He no longer called her by name. In fact, he was no longer calling her. It seemed as if he was just letting her know what he was going through. Beyond how much it physically hurt, it cut her deep to the heart every time that it happened. She tried to call back to him, to tell him she was on her way. But she didn't think that any of it was getting through.

She stayed with Sarah through it all and for the first time, Sarah was finally able to see how Rose and the Doctor had something different than she had had. It was love. There was no question in Sarah's mind. She had wanted the same connection with her Doctor, longed for it, but she realized now that they were only companions. Two people who cared for each other and worked well together, but nothing more than that.

Rose was the Doctor's other half. Sarah couldn't imagine the pain that they both must have gone through when they believed that they were separated forever. And now they were sharing a whole new pain. One that Sarah knew Rose could stop if she could just get to him in time.

Finally, after what had felt like an eternity, the games ended and Rose and Sarah found themselves standing on a street corner in London, waiting for the younger Sarah and Doctor.

"This is the place," Sarah said as she motioned across the street to an electronic store. There were several TVs in the window with coverage of the games running on them.

Rose nodded. She was suddenly very nervous. She had no idea of what to expect from one of the Doctor's past lives. She had been with both his ninth and tenth lives, and had experienced the differences that there can be between them. But there hadn't been a whole lot of change between nine and ten. Nine had been a bit more moody and more towards the taciturn side than ten. He'd also been much more protective of her than ten who would let her go about on her own. But really, they were pretty much the same.

But now she was going to meet four. Nearly a half dozen lives before she had ever met him. What was this Doctor going to be like?

"There we are," Sarah said in an excited whisper as two people walked around the corner across the street.

Rose looked. It was definitely a young Sarah Jane that was stopped, watching the news reports in the window. But the man was not anything like she had expected.

Tall, quite tall in fact. Wild curly hair. A trench coat that looked much like the one that ten wore but it was partnered with an extremely long multicolored scarf and dragged on the ground behind him.

Rose could hear him talking, though she couldn't hear what it was he was saying. But it seemed that this Doctor was just as prone to rambling as ten is. She could tell that the younger Sarah wasn't even listening to him anymore.

Rose heard the older Sarah sigh beside her. "Well, I better be off. Good luck and I hope you find him," she said.

Rose turned to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you Sarah. I will."

Sarah was about to leave when she paused and looked down at K-9 at her feet and then glanced over at her younger self and the Doctor. "Rose," she said. "I think that you should take K-9 with you."

Rose looked at Sarah and shook her head. "No, the Doctor made him for you. I couldn't take him."

"Please. He really is very useful. I think that you might need him. Four hasn't gotten him yet, so there shouldn't be any problem with having two together, though there shouldn't be anyway since it's not really the same K-9."

Rose looked down at the tin pooch at Sarah's feet. She remembered how useful the last K-9 had been at the school several years back and she agreed with Sarah, K-9 could come in handy.

"Alright, but once we've got the Doctor, I'll make him bring him back to you, ok?"

"No, don't worry about it. You two can use him out there much more than I can here anyway."

Rose was about to protest when Sarah said, "You better get going before you miss them. We're about to leave I think."

Rose glanced over at the two across the street and saw how excited the younger Sarah was at the turn out from the Olympics. The Doctor seemed pleased with her reaction, but looked bored and wanted to move on. Rose nodded once to herself before turning back to say a final goodbye to Sarah.

But as she turned, the only thing that was there was K-9, waiting expectantly. "Where'd she go?" Rose said.

"The mistress has left. You are now my mistress, mistress," K-9 said.

Rose glanced down at the dog and smiled. "Alright then, come on."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"But Doctor, where are all of the flying cars? The incredible technology that everyone says we will have in the new millennium?" Rose could here Sarah asking the Doctor. She had to smile a little to herself.

"Well your society has made a lot of technological advances but really you humans are just too slow to change. It takes you far to long to adjust to new things for you to expect radical changes in just a few decades. You still haven't even come to grips with the fact that you're not alone in the universe as a whole yet. And there has been plenty of evidence to tell them that there is other life out there. They just choose to ignore it."

As Rose approached, she listened briefly to what the news reporter was saying about the games. "With such an impressive lead in medals won at this year's Olympics, some are beginning to call the Brits the Big Bad Wolf, blowing away the competition."

Well, apparently this was the right choice of action, those words seemed to always point to where she was supposed to be.

"Excuse me," Rose said from behind them. "Doctor?"

"Yes that's me," the Doctor said spinning around. "And who are you? I don't recall meeting you before."

"That's because you haven't, yet," Rose said. She really wasn't sure what she should say to him to convince him that she was for real and to help her.

"Oh really, well then I'll be glad to meet you soon then I should hope," he said with a smile and turned to leave.

"Wait! Doctor, I need your help!"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Here we go again," she muttered.

"What do you need me for my dear?" the Doctor asked as he turned back.

Rose glanced at Sarah, wondering if maybe it would be better to leave the younger Sarah out of it all together. "I think we should talk alone," Rose said to the Doctor.

"Very well," he said and turned back to Sarah. "Sarah, why don't you have a look around a bit? I'll be just a moment."

Sarah shrugged and walked away.

"Now, what kind of trouble are you in?" he asked Rose.

"Actually, it's not me who is in trouble, it's you."

"Really!?" he said as he spun around, looking for signs of possible trouble.

"No, not you. But your future self," Rose tried to explain. "Look, can we go somewhere to talk about this. It really is hard for me to explain clearly."

"Alright, right over here," he said as he led her back down the ally that she had watched him and Sarah come form.

As they turned the corner she saw that he was leading him towards the TARDIS. At least, it was a blue police box that she assumed must be the TARDIS. It seemed that the TARDIS had went through a few changes over the years as well.

Rose waited as the Doctor unlocked the box and swung open the door, gesturing grandly for her to enter. She walked past him and inside. She paused not far into the room to take a look around. Everything was stark white with the control column in the center. But even the column seemed to have undergone a huge change. This was nothing like the control room that she had been used to.

As she took in the sight, her mind was having a conversation with herself. Up to that point, she had worried what her reaction to seeing the Doctor again after so long might be. Would she cry? Would her heart skip a beat? Would she be speechless? But now that she was here, she didn't feel much of anything by meeting this Doctor. She realized, though this was the same Doctor in many ways, it wasn't her Doctor. This one had yet to ever come in contact with her and so was not changed from that meeting. She realized now that it wasn't what life he was in that made him who he was, it was what had happened to him and who he had met along the way that made him as a whole. And in her view, this Doctor was finished developing yet. It wasn't the whole that she was in love with.

The Doctor came in behind her and interrupted her musings as he said, "You like it? You're probably wondering how it can be bigger on the inside than the outside. You see…"

"Actually no. You've explained it to me before. It's just set up a lot differently than what I am used to."

"You've been in the TARDIS then?" he asked as he walked over and placed his hat on a hat stand across the room.

"Yes. I suppose I should start at the beginning shouldn't I?"

"That usually is a very good place to start I have found. Oh by the way, what's up with the metal dog that follows you around?"

Rose had completely forgotten about K-9 until then. "Oh, this is K-9. He used to be… or I guess will be… your dog."

"My Dog? Why would I want a robot dog for?"

"You have found me to be very useful, master," K-9 said.

"Oh, it speaks. How marvelous. Where does he come from?..." the Doctor started but then interrupted himself. "No, don't tell me. I shouldn't even know that I get a mechanical dog, let alone how. Why are you here anyway?"

Rose sighed. This Doctor was even more manic than ten is. "Like I was trying to say, my name is Rose. I traveled with both your ninth and tenth regenerations. About two years ago I got separated from you in an alternate universe. I have no idea what you have been getting into since, but over the last few weeks, your tenth self has been calling to me. Somehow he has been able to contact me through telepathy or something like that even crossed the dimensional barrier. I found a way to cross back and now I need your help to find… well you, and rescue… you," she finished lamely.

The Doctor looked at her for a second before saying, "Ok, so you're saying that you need me to find my tenth self to save him? Is that about the whole of it?"

Rose sighed, "Yes."

"Do you realize how very dangerous all of this is? Not to mention that if the other Time Lords find out they will have my head?"

"The other Time Lords!" she exclaimed before she could stop herself.

"Yes of course the other Time Lords. What, did you think that I was the only one!?"

"No… no," she faltered. "I… I just thought…. That they wouldn't be a problem. At least, not for you. You have never seemed to be very concerned with the rules when there is something more important at stake," she finished.

The Doctor eyed her before he said, "Yes, well that might be true. But saving my future self doesn't seem like a very grand thing to flaunt the rules of time over."

"Please! You're my only hope and it is you who has been calling for my help. You have…" But then it happened again. Rose let out a slight scream as she began to collapse to the floor. This time she could feel the pain again. She could hear his weakening screams and feel the agony that had a hold of him.

Quickly the Doctor crossed the space between him and Rose and grabbed her in his arms. He could see that she was being completely taken over by something and that she was in a lot of pain. He needed to know what it was that she was seeing and feeling. Carefully, he placed his hand against her temple and looked into her mind.

Suddenly he could feel what it was that she was feeling and heard the screams that were from, not his voice, but one that was definitely from a future him. The brain patterns that it was coming from were his. There was no mistaking and no faking the fact that Rose was getting a call from him, just a future him.

As it ended, the Doctor gently lowered a sobbing Rose to the floor as he took a few steps away to think about what he had just experienced.

"You see? It's you. It's you who needs my help and I need your help to do it."

"I see that," he said with his back still turned. "But I wonder…" he began to himself.

"What?" Rose asked.

"Huh?" he said turning back to Rose. "Oh nothing, nothing. It just struck me as odd that there was no return connection. It was as if a message was just being sent but there is no way to send back. Usually with a telepathic connection, the communication can go both ways."

"I've tried to respond, but it's as if there is nothing there to respond to." Rose replied as she began to rise from the floor.

"Exactly. That must mean something!" He said, snapping his fingers.

"What?"

"Well I haven't the foggiest," he mumbled as he turned to his control column. "But it seems that I've sent you coordinates to wherever you need to go so I guess I can take you there."

"Really! You're going to help me?"

"I am going to take you where I obviously want you to be. But I can't stay. I can't get any further involved as it is," he said stubbornly.

"That's all I wanted, was to get there. I'm sure I can figure something out from there."

The Doctor turned and looked at Rose before turning back to his TARDIS. "It seems I still know how to pick them," she thought she heard him mutter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

For one who was able to feel the seconds tic by, could feel the very turning of the Earth, the Doctor was no longer sure how long he had been in this cave, strapped to the steel table, filled with pain and fear. Every moment seemed to blend into the next, broken only between times of pain and less pain.

Ka'ras was still just as silent as he had been that second time. One by one the Doctor's senses began to dull and narrow as the days of pain and torture dragged on.

The only sound that he could hear was the sound of his own screams and the rattling of the metal restraints as he flailed against them. As well as the scrape of the metal door allowing Ka'ras entrance and exit.

Smell was that of his own sweat and occasionally the stench of his scorched skin whenever Ka'ras chose to use the electrified rod against his battered body.

Sight was a blur of red and black with a glimpse of Ka'ras' evil grin from time to time.

Taste was his own saline tears. As well as fear, coming to him like a sharp metallic twinge at the back of his throat every time he heard the metal door grate open.

The only sense that never seemed to fade was touch. If anything it became heightened and super sensitive. There were times that Ka'ras would inject him with a drug that would do this. It made even the touch of the table against his back and the restraints around his wrists and ankles scream with pain. On those days Ka'ras barely had to touch him to get the reaction that he was after.

His throat was raw and beginning to blister and bleed from the screams that were drawn from his ragged body everyday. He tried to suppress it. He had tried to tell himself that he didn't need to scream, that the pain was just as much if he held it in than not. But there was no way to stop it from happening. It was something that was no longer under his control.

But everyday, he seemed to be able to produce less and less volume with his screams and he felt as his body wasted away around him. Now, every time that he was left alone, all he could do was float in oblivion of pained unconsciousness.

He had been broken, and still there was nothing offered to him to end it. There was no reason, no point behind it all, just more of the same agony everyday.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, Rose. Here we are. Center of the Asteroid Helios," The Doctor announced to Rose.

"We're here already?"

"You should know that it doesn't take all that long to get anywhere in the TARDIS," the Doctor told her.

"Yeah, it just seems that I have been trying to get here for so long that it was all too easy."

The Doctor just looked at her and then began to punch up the viewer to see what was outside. On the screen a vision of the future TARDIS showed. Apparently they landed right next to the other one.

"Well, it's a good thing that we didn't land on top of it. Crossing the same time vortex could have destroyed the galaxy," the Doctor said.

Rose wasn't paying attention anymore. She was staring at the door, trying to figure what she needed to do. "I'm coming," she whispered before saying louder, "I'm ready. Thank you and I'll let you know how it turns out."

"I'm sure we'll both be fine," he said as he pulled the lever that opened the door. "And just so you know, I won't remember any of this. I plan on wiping both mine and Sarah's memories of ever meeting you."

Rose glanced at the Doctor and nodded. She figured that something of the sort would have to happen in order to maintain the timeline. Then she turned back to the open door. She took a deep breath before looking down at her dog and said, "Come on K-9. Let's go find the Doctor."

With that she walked out with K-9 close on her heels. As they cleared the doorway, Rose turned back around to see the doors closing and hear the engines of the TARDIS begin to grind as it faded away.

"Well, it's just us now K-9. Any ideas?"

"Negative, mistress."

"Me either," she sighed as she turned and faced her Doctor's TARDIS. She wondered if maybe there was something in there that could help her. She had carried her TARDIS key with her where ever she went since she had been left in the other world on a chain around her neck.

As she began to pull the key free, she physically heard what she had been hearing in her head for weeks. She could hear him screaming in pain. And this time, it was near by instead of feeling so distant as it had been.

She was about to take off after the sound when K-9 interrupted her. "Mistress, I am detecting two human life forms in the opposite direction."

Rose paused a second and considered. "That must be Jack. I don't know about the other, but they probably don't belong here either." She thought another second. "Alright. K-9, you go see what you can do for Jack and whoever he is with. I'll go to the Doctor. Bring Jack with you. I'll probably need his help."

"Yes mistress." And with that K-9 rolled off away from where they had heard the scream.

As she crept down the halls, she pulled out the small handgun that Gwen had given her before she had left. She felt rather silly with it. All the time that she had traveled with the Doctor and gotten into so much trouble, she had never had to carry a gun before.

But now she knew that it was the only defense that she had. She was no where near as brilliant and witty as the Doctor and if he had been unable to get himself out of this with those things, then it obviously had come down to need force.

She cringed as she heard him cry out again, this time closer. She tried to think to him, to tell him to just hold on a moment more. She was almost there.

She slid along the wall, dreading running into someone, but no one seemed to be around. The place felt deserted.

Finally, she made it to a small wooden door set into the rock hallway. This was where he was, she was sure of it.

Quietly and slowly, she pushed open the door and slid into the dark room. There was a single light ahead of her that was shining down on a raised table. She was looking at it from the back but could tell that there was someone laying on it. There was also another man, standing to the right of the table, holding a slender rod and sparked at the end.

Rose closed the door behind her and began to make her way around the room. Trying to come up silently behind the man. As she maneuvered around, she was able to see a hand stretched out on the table. There was dried blood around the wrist where the metal restraint that held it had cut into it. It appeared that the metal was still biting into the flesh as it was currently bearing all of the person's weight.

Rose knew who it was. It was her Doctor that was trussed up on that table, too weak to support himself, and was hanging in the metal clasps.

Rose watched in horror as the man with an evil grin plunged the sparking end of the rod into the Doctor and heard as his screams echoed in the room once again. In a mad rush, she came up behind the man and slammed the barrel of her gun into his back with one hand as she grabbed his throat with the other.

"Stop now or I'll kill you!" she demanded.

Immediately the man pulled the rod away from the Doctor who collapsed once again, nearly unconscious.

For the first time, she was able to actually see him. He looked terrible. Blood dripped from his wrists and ankles. Bruises of various hues and colors covered his body, which was severely shrunken from when Rose had last seen him. He had never been very meaty, but now he was nearly a skeleton. His eyes were sunken and his skin was nearly translucent. And pain lines seemed permanently etched into his face.

A tear rolled down Rose's face as she looked at him and what had been done to him. But she quickly pulled herself out of it as the man she was holding spoke.

"Well my dear. You certainly took your time, but you made it at last."

Anger flared through her as she jabbed the gun into his side and demanded, "Release him, or you die!"

The man chuckled softly. "I do not think so my dear. I have been waiting ever so long for you to show up. I can not just let you walk away with him, now can I?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Why do you think we captured him but to bring you to us." He said as he dropped the rod from his hand onto a small switch on the floor. Suddenly an alarm began to sound as men rushed into the room, grabbing a hold of Rose and wresting the gun from her hand.

She struggled against them, but there were too many and were too strong for her. Before she knew it, she was being held in place by two burly men, facing the man who she had recently threatened.

"It is so good to meet you Rose, I have heard so much about you," the man said.

"Who the hell are you?" Rose spat.

"I am Ka'ras. I must admit that I had doubts that you were ever going to show. But my master has proven to be right yet again."

"Why do you want me? What have I got to do with anything?"

Ka'ras chuckled. "You… nothing. It is what you hold that I… that we, my master and I, want."

"What I hold? What's that supposed to mean?!" she demanded.

"Well, let us see if we can find out, hmm," he said as he turned and picked up the rod.

As he did so, a grating voice whispered, "Rose?"

Rose looked and saw that the Doctor was awake again. He was looking at her as if she were a mirage. He couldn't believe what his eyes and ears were telling him. He had forced himself out of his unconscious state when he thought he had heard her voice, and now there she was, standing in front of him.

"Doctor! It's me. I'm here!" she called to him.

Slowly he blinked as his fogged mind tried to take in what he was seeing. "No, it can't be," he said.

"I am. I'm here."

"Of course she is Doctor, thanks to you," Ka'ras said cheerfully.

"What?" the Doctor said as he turned to look at Ka'ras once again.

"Did you not wonder what the Psycho recorder was for? We have been sending your voice, your thoughts and feelings, to her, bringing her here."

The Doctor tried to shake his head but it hurt too much. "But she can't be. She was cut off. I sealed the only way."

"Then she is a very determined girl when it comes to you, Doctor," Ka'ras said with his evil grin. "Let us just see how determined she is."

With that he plunged the rod into the Doctor's side yet again. Another scream was torn from his lips as Rose watched his body arc in agony.

"No! Stop it! If it's me you want then stop!" she pleaded.

But Ka'ras persisted and dragged the pain out, shoving the rod into the Doctor's side, nearly drawing blood with the pressure.

"Stop!" Rose cried again.

Finally Ka'ras pulled away. The Doctor hung in his restraints yet again, gulping for air. But this time he fought against the blackness that was trying to take him. He had to know what this man wanted with Rose. It was the whole reason that he had gone through this and he needed to understand.

"Why are you doing this?!" Rose sobbed, mirroring the Doctor's thoughts.

Ka'ras walked over to Rose and looked at her. It felt as if he was trying to look through her and into her. His eyes bore down on her before he seemed to make up his mind.

He walked back to the Doctor and said, "Well Doctor. It seems that the girl is right. I have no more use for you. Any final words?"

"No!" Rose called. "You have me, let him go," she cried.

"And allow him to come back and rescue you? Hardly my dear. As I was saying, any final words Doctor?"

With his head hung, the Doctor took several deep breaths as he tried to find a last bit of strength. Finally, he raised his head and looked at Rose. There were tears streaming down her face, reminding him of how she had looked standing on the shores of Bad Wolf Bay as he had said goodbye.

He had never been able to finish his goodbye to her then, and now seemed like the last time that he would have to do so.

"Rose Tyler…" he started.

She knew what it was he was doing, and she didn't want to hear it. "No, don't you dare say goodbye to me now. Not after I have finally gotten you back."

"Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry." He took one more deep breath and said as strongly as he could, "Rose Tyler, I love you."

Rose tried to choke back the sob that was building in her throat as Ka'ras said, "Ah, what touching final words. Well, goodbye, Doctor," he said.

And with that he viciously shoved the rod against him once again. Both the screams of the Doctor and Rose echoed through the cave as Ka'ras coolly held his instrument in place. He held it there far longer than he had ever done before, dialing up the amount of energy on it. Eventually, he knew that this would kill the Doctor. But he had to risk it. He needed to evoke a reaction from the girl.

And a reaction was exactly what he got.

Suddenly the room was filled with brilliant golden light that seemed to erupt from Rose. The men that held her were knocked to the floor as the light swirled around her and spilled from her eyes.

"Stop!" she commanded. Her voice rang with a power that was not there before.

Ka'ras smiled as he finally pulled the rod away and let it drop to the floor once again.

"Bad Wolf, I presume," he said.

"Release him," she commanded.

"And if I refuse?"

"I will destroy you. It will be as if you were never even born."

Ka'ras smiled as he reached into his pocket and drew out a small cylindrical device. "I do not think so," he said as he pressed a small blue button on the top. Nothing happened.

He looked at the thing in his hand as he watched himself press the button again. Still nothing happened.

Rose began to walk towards him and he began to frantically press the button as for the first time his cool and cold demeanor began to fade into panic.

As she drew closer, Rose began to talk, "You and your master believed that you could capture me, control my power. And it is true, what power I have is from the time vortex, which the Time Lords have been able to control. But the difference is, where a time vortex is alive, it is not sentient. I am. The moment that you called me forth, I could see all that there was, is, and will be. I know what you were planning and it is I who destroyed your instrument." She was nearly on top of Ka'ras now. His panic had melted into outright terror. He had allowed the device to roll from his fingers and hit the floor as he seemed to melt before her.

"Tell me why I should let you live?" Rose asked.

Ka'ras lost his tongue. He was completely unable to think of what to say to save himself.

"Because you're not a murderer, Rose," the Doctor said. Rose looked up to the Doctor who was just coming around. He couldn't understand how it was that she had the Time Vortex yet again, but the how didn't matter so much right now.

"Rose, let it go. It will burn you," he said.

She shook her head. "Not yet," she answered. "I have been with Rose all along. I never truly left her. I have been remaking her, making it so she would be able to handle my power. I have not yet finished, but she and I could not let you die. We want you safe, my Doctor," she said, echoing what she had said all that time ago on the game station.

"Let her go. She is not a murderer," he told the Bad Wolf.

She smiled as for a second the light intensified and swirled around the men in the room. All of them dropped to the floor as the light touched them, including Ka'ras. The light swirled around Rose once as she said, "they are asleep, as I shall be for a time."

With that the light drew into her through her eyes and then faded from them as well. Rose staggered a step as the power left her.

"Rose!" the Doctor called.

"I'm alright," she said as she placed a hand to her forehead. Looking around she tried to comprehend what had just happened. "What?"

"Never mind right now Rose," he said. "Let's just get out of here."

She looked at him once again and nodded. She walked over to him and forced open the metal clasps that held his wrists and ankles. Then reaching up, she wrapped her arm around him under his arms and helped him down.

He nearly collapsed face first into the floor as he tried to get his feet under him but Rose was at least able to keep him from hitting the ground as she took all of his weight.

It took a few minutes, but, using her to take most of his weight, he was able to get to his feet and they began to make their way out with him leaning on her heavily.

It was very slow, but she made sure that she didn't utter a single word of complaint. She knew that he was completely drained and if he thought for a moment that he was hurting her or slowing her down, he would try and walk on his own. Which she knew he could not do.

She led him out the back wooden door that she had come in through and began to guide him down the stone corridor. He was breathing heavily and with every step, more of his weight came to bear on her.

"Doctor, we're almost there," she tried to coax him. But he was fading fast. In a few more steps Rose had to lower him to the ground.

Leaning against the wall, he gasped out, "I can't, Rose."

Catching her own breath, Rose shook her head. "We're almost there. The TARDIS is just around this corner. I'm not leaving you if I have to drag you there."

Just then they heard laser fire coming from down the next corridor. "Come on," she said as she reached down to help him up once again.

Knowing that there was no use in arguing with her, he tried to comply. But as he came away from the wall, his head began to spin as everything became dark. "Rose," he gasped just before he lost consciousness once again.

She had him half standing when he had called and suddenly she was holding all his weight yet again. She nearly crumpled under it, but she grabbed a hold of him and began to drag him as she had promised to do.

The sound of weapons was getting closer as she slowly made her way to the TARDIS. She could hear heavy footfalls running up behind her as she tried to hurry. But she knew that whoever it was, was gaining on her.

"Hey!" a familiar voice rang out. "Put him down!" it commanded.

With a slight smile Rose did so and turned around, "Gladly," she said.

Jack was standing there, weapon aimed at her, completely frozen on the spot, jaw nearly touching the floor. It took him a good ten seconds to actually respond. "Rose!?"

"Yeah. Now if you don't mind. I need some help here," she said waving at the Doctor.

"How?" Jack began to say as he crossed over to her.

"Never mind right now. Let's just get out of here."

Jack shook himself. "Right," he said as he bent over and practically threw the Doctor over his shoulder. Standing up he said, "Where's Martha and that mechanical Dog?"

"Right here!" Martha called as she, followed by K-9, came running up the next corridor.

Rose turned and felt her own jaw hit the floor. "Martha?!" she exclaimed.

The woman looked at her. "Yeah, and you are?"

"Martha, this is Rose, Rose, obviously you already know Martha. Now let's get out of here, shall we?" And he made his way over to the TARDIS. As he got to it he swore, "Damn. I don't have my key."

"Me either," Martha cried.

"Oh I do," Rose said as she pulled the key from around her neck and opened the TARDIS.

They all piled inside, followed lastly by K-9. Rose slammed the doors shut as Jack laid the Doctor on the floor and rushed over to the controls.

As he reached for the levers, a hand reached out and grabbed a hold of him as a knife was brought to his neck. "Touch those controls and you die," a cold voice whispered in his ear.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Don't move, or I'll kill him," the man said to the two girls as they started to move to help Jack.

"Who are you?" Rose asked.

"Someone who is rather disappointed in his minions. You weren't supposed to be able to leave that room."

"You must be the master that Ka'ras kept referring to," Rose said.

"I am. But your friend over there," he said indicating the Doctor, "knows me as _The_ Master."

"The Master? I thought you were killed on Skaro years ago," Jack said.

The Master looked at Jack. "Ah yes, the former Time Agent. Of course you would have heard of me, being a former Time Lord myself."

"Time Lord?" Rose said. "I thought you were all dead."

"They are. As I said, I am a former Time Lord. I ceased to be one on Skaro. Since then I have survived by stealing what bodies I could and using them as my host until I burned them up."

"But I killed you," the Doctor gasped as he tried to pull himself out of the blackness once again.

"Doctor!" Rose called as she moved to help him.

"I told you, move and I kill him," the Master said, tightening his grip on Jack.

"You fell into the Eye of Harmony. You should be dead," the Doctor said as he rose shakily to his knees.

"And so should you, Doctor. It was you who used the Eye to destroy all of the Time Lords along with the Daleks. Why did you survive? Of course that's inconsequential. It was thanks to you that I am able to live again. If you hadn't opened the Eye again, I never would have escaped."

"But the power, the shear raw power, it should have torn you apart!"

"There you go again Doctor, underestimating me."

"Just as you have always underestimated me," he said as he used one of the support columns to help himself rise to his feet.

The Master dug his blade into Jack's throat, pulling a thin line of blood. "Careful Doctor, or I will kill him."

"Oh go ahead," the Doctor said. "He annoys me anyway."

"Doctor!" Rose exclaimed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jack said.

Suddenly Rose remembered what it was that Gwen had told her about how Jack couldn't die. Now she knew what the Doctor was playing at.

"Let him go," Rose said.

"Why? Are you offering yourself in exchange?"

"Let him kill him Rose. We don't need him," Martha said.

"Oh yeah, I feel the love," Jack said.

"Really Jack, don't you think it's about time to just sod off?" The Doctor said.

"Well I can tell when I'm not going to get any help," with that he tried to pull out of the Master's grip, but before he could, the knife bit into his neck, severing his artery and pouring his life blood onto the floor.

Casually, the Master stepped over the body, dropping the knife beside it, as Rose gasped and covered her mouth. Martha looked a little sick but was forcing it down. The Doctor just glared at the Master.

"I am rather surprised at you Doctor. You have never been so casual with your companions before. What was it with this one?"

"He was helping me find Rose. Otherwise I never would have picked him up."

"Ah, my mistake. Next time I'll pick someone closer to you to threaten."

The Doctor glared at him for a moment before he said, "There's one thing I don't understand."

"Just one?" The Master replied with a grin as he fingered something in his pocket.

"One that matters. How was it that you even knew about Bad Wolf?"

"Ah, the knowledge was easy. It was discovering who it was that was more challenging. You see Doctor, you may have noticed that throughout time and space, the words Bad Wolf keep appearing. As I am sure that you have realized, they are there for you and Rose to use as warnings and messages, but they are a convenient trail that lead right to you. I began stumbling across the words shortly after I escaped from the Eye. I knew that whoever was scattering them had to be in control of tremendous power. But it wasn't until I stumbled across a very old Earth ledged of how a girl took a stand and erased the Daleks form the universe with a thought, that I began to grasp the significance."

"You knew the only thing that could possibly have done that now that the Eye is no more, was the time vortex," the Doctor stated.

"Yes. And, thanks to another myth saying that the girl arrived in a blue box at the threshold of oblivion, I knew who was responsible for giving her that power."

"Doctor?" Rose asked, confused as to what this story had to do with anything. The Bad Wolf was gone, he took it from her. Why were they going over events that were ancient history… at least to her perspective.

"And she still doesn't know, does she?" the Master said as he turned his greasy grin on her. But he decided not to drag this boring conversation out any longer. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver sphere.

"Do you know what this is, Doctor?" He asked.

The Doctor eyed it before saying, "No, but I'm sure that you're about to tell me. Unlike that Ka'ras, you have read, and probably wrote most of the megalomaniac handbook."

The Master chuckled as he said, "That is what has always made you such a worthy opponent, Doctor, your sense of humor even in the gravest of situations."

"Glad you approve, now you were saying?"

"This is a little something that I have developed. You see, after gathering several weeks worth of your psycho recordings, I have been able to put together a rather complete profile."

The Doctor was once again eyeing the sphere that the Master held with new fear.

"You know what a person like me is able to do with a complete brain wave profile?" the Master asked.

"I would assume create a device that is able to control that person's brain waves," the Doctor said.

Rose and Martha finally got what was so grave about the situation. They gasped as they looked at the orb that the master was holding. "You mean?" Martha started.

"I have my very own Doctor remote control," the Master said as he raised the sphere a little higher, preparing to use it.

K-9 suddenly rolled out from behind the pillar that he had been behind and fired upon the orb. Simultaneously, the Master dropped the orb with a slight yelp of pain as the Doctor collapsed with a cry of pain of his own as his hands flew to his head, cradling it.

Rose and Martha both ran to the Doctor who was weakly waving them off. "Sorry, Master," K-9 said to the Doctor.

The Master reached down and picked up the sphere once again, chuckling as he did so. "Apparently your dog was able to detect that I have a personal force shield and determined that he couldn't get anywhere by hitting me. But what he didn't realize was that any harm done to the sphere is transferred to you."

Martha and Rose glared at the Master as the Doctor tried to push them both away from him. "Get out of here," he was trying to whisper to them. But they didn't seem to be listening.

"Now, where was I?" The Master said. "Oh yes." And he raised the sphere once again. This time it began to glow a faint orange as the Doctor grabbed his head once again but as he did so he bean to rise shakily to his feet.

"Now Doctor, don't fight it. You know that you can't win."

Jerkily, the Doctor let go of his head and reached out to Martha, placing his hands around her throat. Slowly, Martha could feel as his hands began to close tighter. She could tell that he was resisting it every inch, but still his grip increased.

"Stop it!" Rose said as she grabbed a hold of the Doctor's hands and tried to pry him off her.

"He can't and I won't," The Master laughed.

Martha was beginning to gasp as her air way was beginning to be crushed.

"Doctor, fight it," Rose told him as she continued to try and pull him away.

"I… am," he gasped.

Martha wasn't getting any air any more and she was heading towards blacking out.

"K-9!" the Doctor called.

"Yes Master," his dog said.

"Shoot me!" he said.

"No!" Rose said as she moved to stand in between K-9 and the Doctor.

"Rose, it's the only way!" he gasped as Martha's eyes began to roll back into her head.

"No, it's not," Jack said as he came behind the Master and stabbed him through the heart.

Immediately, the Doctor let go of Martha who collapsed on the floor, gasping for air. He wavered himself as Rose caught him. Looking over to Jack he yelled, "Get away from him!"

Jack looked down as a silvery form began to snake its way out of the dead Master's mouth and head towards Jack.

He pulled out his laser gun and fired at it. He hit it, but it only changed direction and headed for Rose.

"No!" the Doctor said as he pulled her out of the way as Jack flipped a switch to open the TARDIS doors.

The creature slithered right on past where Rose had been and out the door. Quickly Jack closed it, sealing the creature outside.

The four companions all paused for a moment as the adrenaline of the moment passed.

Suddenly, the Doctor sagged towards the floor once again and was caught by both Rose and Martha. "We got you," Rose said.

He nodded weakly as he turned to Jack and said, "Get us out of here."

Jack nodded and turned to the controls. "Where to?" he asked.

"Anywhere away from here," the Doctor said.

"Yes sir," Jack said with a smile. "How about, Barcelona?"

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a smile before the Doctor said, "That would be fantastic."

a/n: so I left a lot of things hanging. But I plan on writing a sequel called, "Return to Me." So if there is anything that you would like cleared up from here, just tell me and I will try and add it to the sequel.

Also, thank you all for the reviews, I love to see that people are reading and enjoying my story.

Mahalo plenty,

Mystica


End file.
